William Avery Bishop

William Avery Bishop is interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound. Actually, there are two William Avery Bishops interred at Greenwood Cemetery. I will need to make another visit to the cemetery to get a photograph of the inscription for William Avery "Will" Bishop father to Billy Bishop. This will have to wait until spring until the snow is gone. I suspect I will find it on the other side of the monument shown below. I will talk more about Will Bishop when I post the photograph. According to the Greenwood Cemetery database, both are buried in the same area.




William Avery "Billy" Bishop - Air Marshall of the RCAF has a separate grave marker to the right of the monument. He is also listed on the monument of his grandparents. E. W. (Eleazer Wilson) Bishop (1833-1914) and Sarah Sophia Kilbourn (1839-1903).
William Arthur Bishop (son of Billy Bishop) does not speak highly of his grandfather. E. W.. in the book The Courage of the Early Morning : a son's biography of a famous father.

It was a constant source of wonder that any man as shiftless as Eleazar Wilson Bishop could produce a son as energetic as Will and grandchildren as lively as Billy, Worth and Louie. The only explanation could be that the second and third generations took after Grandmother Sarah Bishop. [1]

Eleazer Wilson Bishop's obituary paints a different picture.

The news of the death of Mr. Bishop is received with the genuine regret as he was a gentleman in every sense of the word, loved and respected by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. [2]

Eleazer W. Bishop was born in Unionville in 1833 to Avery Bishop and Elizabeth Helmka. He came to Owen Sound in 1853 and he married Sarah Sophia Kilbourn in 1854. His attempts at running a hotel failed. Not content to make practical leather goods, a trade he had learned from his father, his saddlery and leather working shop also went bankrupt. [3] They had three girls and three boys. E. W. died a gentleman at the age of 80 years 10 months, 2 days on 12 January 1914 in Owen Sound. [4]
Sarah Bishop nee Kilbourn sounds like an amazing woman. After her husband's businesses failed, she earned the money to support the family. She did whatever domestic work she could find. Sarah came to Owen Sound in June 1845 when she was only five years old. She died on 2 August 1903 [5] where she was being treated in hospital. Her obituary paints a wonderful picture of her.

Although deeply devoted to her family she had ever an attentive ear and sympathetic heart for the troubles of others and no sorrow which she could alleviate or burden which she could share ever failed to enlist her kindly interest or secure her helping hand. Her charity was of the kind "which vaunteth not herself and is not puffed up." Seeking no publicity, her Dorcas deeds were generally known only to the little wearers of her thoughtful kindness. To her own family her loss will be irreparable, and her memory will be sweet to all who knew her. [6]

To see companion article about William Avery "Billy" Bishop read My Most Famous Canadian Relative.
Sources
[1] William Arthur Bishop. The Courage of the Early Morning : a son's biography of a famous father. Toronto : McClelland & Stewart. p. 9
[2] "Death of Mr. E. W. Bishop" Owen Sound Sun 13 January 1914
[3] William Arthur Bishop. The Courage of the Early Morning, p. 10
[4] Eleazer Wilson Bishop Ontario death registration #014139 (13 January 1914) ; microfilm MS 935 reel 197 Archives of Ontario, Toronto
[5] Sarah Bishop Ontario death registration #003271 (4 August 1903); digital image Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 3 December 2008), citing MS 935 reel 109, Archives of Ontario, Toronto
[6] "Death of Mrs. E. W. Bishop" [unnamed newspaper Aug -- 1903] Bruce Grey Branch Ontario Genealogical Society surname collection microfiche.